A few years back, I sat in a training course that started off with something interesting. No, it wasn’t a bunch of bad jokes or annoying safety tips, it was a personality test.
“Oh now this is interesting. Not sure how this could possibly help me out, but hey I’ll give it a shot.”
It was the Myers Briggs Type Indicator® (MBTI®) and was facilitated by a certified MBTI® administrator. Huh?! It was quite a mouth-full to say the least but I was still interested.
I picked up my pencil, open the packet (it was nice to have a printed version to write on!), and starting going to town on the questions.
Nothing too terribly surprising or hard here – it was just a bunch of “how do you like this” or “which would you prefer that.” Easy, simple, and quick. That’s talking my language!
I anxiously waited for the administrator to run us through the results and scoring process so I could figure out what this was all about. And here it came. He sent me a PDF via email with my results all nice and tidy for me. I printed them out and…
Brand new fresh, engineering degree me got a big: INTJ type (I’m not INTJ anymore, by the way). Cool! Now what do I do?
I still have that original results packet and it’s useful to look at to see how much I’ve grown over the years. It did provide me some great tips on how to super-charge my next steps to growth.
How to Share this Powerful Personality Test with Others?
Fast forward a few years and what do you know… I’m very interested in this psychometric assessment again. But not from the certified administrator frame of mind.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great program and I looked into it VERY hard. But it was $150 to $175 for each test and the results have to be interpreted and worked with you through a certified administrator?
sigh I just want to get some hints on personal development.
Oh but wait, I have an idea. Why not go back to the source and make my own version of this type of test?
- I know some personality psychology
- Psychometric test design methods
- Extensive NASA engineering work
Why not? The RSWAT test I created has been VERY successful and helped over 57,000 folks to date.
In Comes a New Wave of Jung Type Assessment Tests
I’ve had some great fun going through the works of Carl Jung, Katharine Cook Briggs, and Mrs. Briggs’ daughter Isabel Briggs Myers. You’ll be surprised at how much things change when they go through layers and layers of filtering over the years. I’ll include a more detailed bibliography in a future post, too.
Sure, some of those changes are advancements in the field of psychology and psychometric testing, but it’s almost like playing the game of telephone sometimes.
Using results from the over 12,388 tests taken here at richardstep.com, and some blood, sweat, and tears, I’ve come up with my own Jungian type personality test. Ready for it? I’m jazzed, folks – JAZZED! :)